BARRE – A Granite City man is facing charges over allegedly busting down a door looking for $50 he was owed.

Juan A. Marquez, 49, pleaded not guilty in Washington County criminal court in Barre Thursday to one count of felony unlawful trespass of an occupied residence and one count of misdemeanor unlawful mischief. If convicted, he faced a maximum sentence of three-and-one-half years in prison and a $2,500 fine.

According to the police affidavit, police responded to a Feb. 19 reported assault on Warren Street in Barre. Upon arrival, police say the resident, Dawn Sayers, 37, answered the door in an emotionally distraught condition.

Sayers told police a man named “X,” who later proved to be Marquez, kicked her door in and pinned Sayers to the stairs. Police observed vertical cracks in the door frame and the striker tab hanging with the screws stripped out, which police say is consistent with a doorway being forcibly entered.

Sayers told police after Marquez kicked the door in, he started screaming “Where is my $50?” She told police she had borrowed $50 from Marquez last summer and that Marquez had been a friend, but she had not seen him for a while.

Sayers told police she was upstairs listening to music when she heard a loud bang and went downstairs. She told police she saw Marquez standing in her home and he proceeded to grab her by the face and demand his money. Police said Sayers showed no signs of injury.

Sayers told police she started screaming for Marquez, and another man who was present but unknown to her, to leave and they did.

When police spoke with Marquez on the phone, he admitted to being at Sayers’ home the day in question.

On Feb. 20, Marquez went to the Barre City police station to talk about the incident. Police said Marquez admitted Sayers owed him $50, but he had written that off a long time ago. Marquez told police he went to Sayers’ home because she had been slandering his name, calling him a crack head on social media. When he went to talk to Sayers, Marquez told police the conversation turned into a screaming match. Marquez said the last time he had seen Sayers was about a month and a half prior to the incident.

When asked how Marquez entered the home, he told police he simply walked in, as he had always done in the past.

Marquez has previous convictions of felony assault with a weapon from 2002, felony sale of a narcotic in 1998, and assault in 1996, all out of New York.